The 6th Annual Sore Eye Cup – San Diego’s Best Indie Beer

Welcome to the launch of the 6th Annual Sore Eye Cup, an award for the best, regularly produced indie beer in San Diego! Last year was a resounding success, Oatmeal Stout from Benchmark Brewing won! That, along with the only member of the Sore Eye Cup Hall of Fame, Speedway Stout, are the only two regularly produced, indie beers ineligible for this contest. You guys set records for nominations and votes last year, well done!

We will honor the winning craft beer with an actual cup! At the announcement party, we’ll fill it up with the winning beer and the winning brewery will drink from the cup right then, as is tradition! The winners can then bask in the glory of victory and have bragging rights for an entire year.

Here are the rules: beers nominated must be brewed here in San Diego County by a licensed, independent, craft brewery. They must be beers the brewery makes year round; seasonal, special versions, one offs, nitro versions and casks are not allowed. The beers do not need to be packaged (cans or bottles), just made all year long and available for growler fills (so we can buy some to judge). We’re looking for superior indie beers that are available to everyone in SD.

Nominate your favorite beer(s) by emailing me at Sore Eye Cup, tweet me (@SoreEyeSuds) , tag your nomination #SoreEyeCup in Twitter, comment on the post in Facebook, or comment right here on this post. Nominations are open until June 30th at 8pm. Voting down to the 10 finalist beers begins July 6th and runs to July 22nd at 8pm.

The top ten beers, as voted by you, the best people on earth, will be blind tasted/judged by our panel of exemplary beer people . The judges range from craft beer enthusiasts to certified cicerones. We are truly looking for the best, regularly produced indie beer San Diego has to offer. The best craft beer, as chosen by us, will be awarded the esteemed Sore Eye Cup and receive all the prestige and glory one blog can bestow upon a brewery!

A giant shout out to the returning Sore Eye Cup sponsor, Tap Craft! Remember to contact Tap Craft for all your draft system supply, installation, and maintenance needs!